Ochako opened her apartment door and stepped inside. The place was the same as she had left it, minus the periodic cleaning that is done by the landlady out of the kindness of her heart. She dropped off her wallet and went out onto the balcony to sit and overlook the city.
Her primary apartment was positioned at one of the highest points in the city and on the top floor. From this vantage point, she had an excellent view of the city and could react quickly to any large-scale emergencies. Assuming she wasn't notified before she noticed. There hadn't been any large-scale emergencies though, at least not in the past two years. Overall Musutafu had lost maybe a third of the buildings in the city, with the ruined sector consisting of the northern end of the city, and the primary area where the battle had taken place. In comparison to other cities though, Musutafu had fared well mainly due to the presence of Nezu and the U.A. Other cities, less fortunate and not as prepared, had been almost wiped off the map mostly due to Decay.
She looked out towards All Might park, what had once been a normal plaza with All Might's statue at its center. Shigaraki, the Nomu, and the rest of the league had tried to destroy it, but he hadn't managed to take even a step into the plaza. The entire plaza had been reduced into a burning crater. Whatever kind of material the statue had been made of, it hadn't melted, unlike the rest of the plaza, though it had been darkened considerably. Shigaraki had barely escaped the blast, Kurogiri teleporting him and the surviving Nomu and villains to safety. Kurogiri may have been killed by Hawks seconds after, but the damage had been done.
"Damn, Kurogiri. If only we had managed to kill him earlier. Then everything might have been avoided." Ochako thought bitterly.
Ochako sighed, thinking about the past wasn't going to get her anywhere. She finished off her drink and checked her watch. It was near 2 o'clock, so she grabbed a foldable stool, the bouquet in the vase that she had bought yesterday, and the incense she kept in a drawer. She quickly left her apartment and made her way down to the street where she started towards the east end of the city.
As she wound her way through the crowded streets, she couldn't help but think about Zeus and The Hunter. She could probably handle The Hunter on her own she reasoned, she was confident in her CQC skills and her quirk rendered most projectiles and conventional weapons useless. If she got in close enough, then she could capture him by using her quirk, via a slab of concrete or some other object to pin him with. That being said, she had no intention of going against what her teachers and the H.A. had advised. If they believed he was strong enough to warrant more than one hero, then she'd take their word on it.
Bakugo is probably off looking for both Zeus and The Hunter right now. Take them out before anyone has a chance to even mobilize a response. Thought Ochako. Typical Bakugo, but if anyone could probably manage that then it was probably him. He wasn't tied with Todoroki for number 3 in the rankings for nothing.
Zeus, however, was a serious problem. With full manipulation over electricity, he was a serious threat to even a fully geared squad of pro-heroes. He had the potential to deal almost as much damage as Twice did. He could overload power generators and transformers, knocking out power to entire cities. The lighting he called down was also REAL lighting. The bolts consisted of plasma and he could burn through almost any material imaginable, and his speed was insane. The only upside was that he had to aim the bolts first, and an observant combatant could see the signs and avoid the deadly bolts. That left Zeus with just firing off much weaker bolts from his body which he personally generated. They were drastically weaker, you could take a few hits, but they were faster, and you could only use Zeus's body language as a sign of where he was going to aim. He was a tough opponent and she didn't think anybody in the Hero Association could take him on in single combat and have a sure chance of winning.
Ochako merely sighed, she was going to have to give this more thought another time. She couldn't concentrate and likely wouldn't be able to for a while to come. She had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes when she finally left the more populated areas of the city and came into the area where only some housing blocks and parks were located. She stopped and thought for a moment. At this rate, it was going to take forever to reach her destination. Normally she'd call a cab and just drive there, but the day was just too perfect to miss.
Ochako shrugged, she knew she probably shouldn't, not out of proper hero attire anyway but she didn't fancy walking the whole way out of the city proper. So, without giving it a second thought, she rose into the air and proceeded to fly over the buildings rather than walk. Flying was not only very enjoyable, but it also saved an immense amount of time.
Ten minutes later of the casual, leisurely flight, she had touched down in front of the wooden torii she had come to know all too well. Resuming her walk, she walked through the Torii into the shrine proper.
The stone walkway was ancient, likely dating back 400 or more years. The stone walkway was overgrown, with moss and small grasses growing between the stone slabs comprising the walkway. The path split early into the shrine, with one path going left towards the main shrine complex. Ochako knew the main complex consisted of the honden, with two other buildings on either side of it that she didn't know the purpose of. The path leading right was the route to her destination but she always made sure to offer a prayer at the shrine first.
She took the leftmost path and walked towards the honden, offered a prayer and donation then turned around and continued down the leftmost path. There was an old monk who kept up some basic maintenance of the area but as he was only one man he didn't have the time to fix the stone walkway. The path led through a copse of trees and a second, older stone Torii. In the early years of quirks, places like these places not often tread by human feet were left barren and aging. Eventually though, after everything had started to settle down, many priests and worshipers returned much more regularly but some places were still abandoned. This place was one of them, and the old stone torii and its simple traditional design of ages past helped ease her heart. She had seen many such Torii and shrines when she was growing up in the suburban areas where nature and modernity mixed much more frequently and this sight always helped her relax. She stepped through Torii, stopped, and took a long look at the area before her. The cemetery had a quiet and tranquil peace to it; it never ceased to amaze her that people had largely forgotten such a beautiful and peaceful place. Then again, perhaps it was for the best. The dead could rest peacefully here, disturbed only by the passing of animals and the odd person coming to visit. She proceeded to walk past the many stone monuments. Some newer, some older, she kept walking down the stone path until it was nothing but new stone monuments and headstones. Despite them being new, they were not visited often. Many of the people buried here didn't have a family that could visit easily or didn't have any family left alive. The place had been positively bustling about a year ago when all the funerals were being held across the country. Now, apart from the new headstones and patches of dirt without grass, you'd never know it had been so popular. Continuing down the path, she eventually took a left and went down some 20 headstones until she came upon two headstones in particular.
She stood staring at the headstones for a time. The simple words marking where her parents were buried with birds etched into the headstones. She eventually knelt down and placed the bouquet of flowers between the two headstones into a small ground-inlaid metal vase. She filled it with water and then placed the incense sticks into a similar holder located in front of the vase. She lit the two sticks and putting her hands together, prayed.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but when she eventually stopped praying, she sniffled. It never got any easier, no matter how many times she visited she always ended up sniffling and crying. She set up the foldable chair and sat on it. The incense smoke rose lazily upwards, the warmth of the day was soothing and with no wind at all, tranquil. She didn't say anything, just sat there and thought about everything she had been through in the last year. Her therapy had progressed well, she had made great progress on her physical trauma thanks to her therapist's efforts. That was still only a part of the problem, the mental traumas ran deep and so did her sins and it was going to take more than a few years of therapy to help with that.
Ochako sighed, she had been here about an hour already. The incense sticks had burned out and she had to start back towards the city to get to All Might park before it got too late. Then she had to go shopping and get food.
She got up, put her stuff away, and started to make her way back the way she came to the exit. As she walked slowly back, her thoughts drifted toward memories of her parents. She remembered how proud they had been when they heard she had gotten into U.A. She was going to go to become a hero, save people, and make enough money to ensure her parents never had to feel the crushing weight of debt again. They'd commission a house to be built by her father's own company, and her parents would retire there. They'd be happy, she'd have money, and then she would get married. Then she'd ensure her children never had to grow up poor as she and her parents did.
She knew there would be difficult times, it was part of being a hero after all. Nothing ever came easy and not without hard work. She never thought her parents would ever get involved though, away in the suburban countryside they were supposed to be safe. But her parents had loved her too much. They came to Musutafu without telling her, to celebrate her getting into her third year. They had saved up enough money to stay and visit, the timing didn't matter to them. All that mattered was that they were going to surprise Ochako. They had stayed in a hotel near the outer portion of the city. Near where Shigaraki launched his attack on the city. The evacuations started shortly, and her class was told to oversee the evacuation of civilians into an underground shelter built during WWII and reinforced since. That was also when the class came to know the name, Zeus. His debut featured the near-total death of everyone at the shelter, with less than 15 survivors to tell the tale.
She had just stopped throwing up at the sight and smell when she overheard Aizawa receiving new orders for where to go.
"All right everyone, listen up. I know we're still recovering from the shock, but people are still fighting and dying so we gotta move on. We've been told to go guard the east portion of downtown, turns out Kurogiri teleported small groups of villains all over the city with Shigaraki's group acting as a distraction. We have to safeguard as many civilians as possible. The apprehending of the villains comes second to the lives of civilians at stake. Split up into your teams, and form up on me." Said Aizawa calling out to the class.
They made their way to the area they were supposed to guard, just as a group of villains stormed into the area being chased by a group of heroes and police. With the addition of class 1-A, they got the upper hand quickly. Until a portal opened up a group of 3 Nomu charged out of it. That's when things went south really fast. After another few minutes of fierce fighting, they finally subdued two of the Nomu and the rest of the villains. The last Nomu however, was a new breed. This line of new Nomu were all given quirks that ensure they could not be captured. They would self-destruct, in an attempt to take out as many of their assailants as possible. The explosion vaporized two heroes directly on top of it and lit everything else in a 300-foot radius on fire and inflicted severe structural damage. She didn't notice until then, but the fighting had taken them close to where her parents were staying and the explosion had occurred very close to the hotel. The building was rapidly burning from both the explosion and another villain's quirk who could launch fireballs. The building was collapsing, people were falling out of windows, being crushed by falling debris, and being lit on fire. The shock rooted her to the spot for a few precious seconds, until her brain caught up to her body and she dashed towards the fiery structure. When she finally got to the hotel, it was on fire, collapsing and-
Her trip down depressing and dark memory lane was cut short when she heard some noise coming from just ahead of her. It was indistinct, but as she drew closer, she could make it out more clearly. She shifted her stance slightly and stepped lightly, senses attuned for the slightest thing amiss. She had had it drilled into her to be ready for combat at a moment's notice. It had saved her life and the lives of others in the past. Was it necessary here? probably not, but old and life-saving habits didn't exactly go away.
As she got closer, however, she forced herself to relax. She could hear the sound much more clearly now, and she recognized it. She had heard it all too often, and it made her heart, ache. There was nothing worse than the agonized sobs of those in a pain no one could heal.
Finally, Ochako took a right turn and past a series of monuments that were obstructing her view, she could see a figure sitting on the ground. His/her knees pulled up to their chest and head resting on them as they cried. She didn't know the person, but she knew the pain all too well. She also knew that wallowing in that pain would only make things worse as time passed. Sometimes, all someone needed was to know someone was there. Even if that someone was someone they didn't know. She walked towards the figure slowly but not silently, she didn't want to scare the person. As she got closer, however, she could tell that the figure was masculine. He had green hair and was wearing grey cargo pants with a blue polo shirt. His boots covered his ankles and she could see scaring crisscrossing his right hand.
It seemed he still hadn't noticed her, so she crouched down nearby,
"Hey, you okay?"
The man jumped and looked up and over at her, tears running down his face. He looked at her with shock as if he wasn't sure she was real. Perhaps, like her, he had been remembering things. The young man blinked, then with a small yelp, he started talking.
"I- I'm fine, thanks. I- I just got a bit overwhelmed is all." he managed to stammer as he hurriedly went to wipe away the tears.
Ochako had to admit to herself, that even at this man's lowest point, he was cute. His freckles and green eyes matched his unkempt green hair perfectly, and his face was rugged and worn. As if he had been exposed to a great harsh wind for years. He was also impeccably well-shaven as if he had never grown facial hair in his life. She pushed those thoughts out of her head, now was not the time to stare at the mess of the man in front of her.
Ochako glanced quickly at the grave as the man wiped his eyes. The words Inko Midoriya were engraved onto the stone, but not any others, so she assumed the husband still lived. "If the husband is alive though, why isn't he here with his son on his wife's death anniversary?" wondered Ochako. She didn't pay that too much thought though, there were many reasons why the husband wouldn't be here. She did note the date though, and the sight made her heart sink even further. July 4th, 2106 - June 25th, 2148, the same day her own parents died. This man's mother had died in the battle of Musutafu, and based on his looks he was probably close to her own age. Meaning his mother had died when he was in his teens. The coincidence urged her onward toward helping this man.
"My name's Uraraka Ochako."
"I-Izuku Mi-Midoriya. Y-You're Uravity right?"
The question threw her off guard, she hadn't expected this man to connect her to her hero identity so quickly. Warning bells went off in her head, and she immediately tensed, thinking this might be a trap.
"Uravity? She's a hero, isn't she? Why do you think I'm her?" she asked cautiously, surreptitiously scanning the area for anything amiss. She couldn't see or feel anything wrong, but she didn't relax her guard.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry. That's supposed to be a secret, isn't it? Sorry, I'm just a huge fan of heroes and quirks so I take to examining them and writing about them as a hobby. I-I suppose that could be seen as kind of creepy huh? haha..." Said Izuku, laughing awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck, blushing slightly. Ochako noticed how his stutter seemed to fade out as he started talking about heroes. A subject of passion apparently.
At this, Ochako relaxed some, she was still ready to spring into action if she had to but she didn't unconsciously think it was a trap anymore. His earnest and honest response convinced her of the truth of his words.
"No, it's okay. It's just not often I meet someone new who knows my real name and hero name. I haven't exactly been making headlines after all." said Ochako. Really, it wasn't a huge secret. Some of the topmost heroes had had their civilian identities revealed at some point. Everybody had known Endeavor's real name eventually, and mostly everyone knew Shoto was Endeavor's son at this point. Momo's identity had been revealed over time, and as for Bakugo, no one dared to dig too deeply into his past.
"I actually connected the two of you years ago, during the sports festival specifically. As I said, I'm a huge fan of heroes and quirks, and at the time that applied to the top up-and-coming heroes as well," said Izuku, sniffling and then blowing his nose on a tissue he pulled out from a pocket.
Silence fell between them for a moment then, Ochako relaxed some more and sat down properly on the ground next to Izuku as Izuku shifted into a cross-legged position.
"My parents died on June 25th too." Said Ochako quietly. The stillness of the area ensured her voice was heard. Izuku looked over at her and looked back at the grave in front of them. "They were in eastern downtown when the suicide bomber went off. They died in one of the collapsing buildings."
Izuku didn't say anything for a while. He merely stared at the grave. Ochako wasn't sure if he was going to say anything and was about ready to get up and leave when he spoke. "My mother... she died in the shelter massacre."
Ochako felt sick at that, she might have seen his mother's charred or burning body at the time. The mere memory made her feel like she might vomit.
"I... was there too, but I survived. One of the few that did." Continued Izuku, sniffling again. He was picking at the grass in front of him, twisting and messing with a few blades of grass he had idly pulled up. "I come by the grave every few months or so, keep it tidy and let her know how I'm doing."
Silence fell between them again, at least until Izuku started shaking and pulled his knees into his chest again.
Ochako wasn't sure why she did what she did next, but she didn't question what she felt she had to do. She repositioned into a seiza position and then reached over and hugged him. She felt him seize up in her embrace, but a moment later he relaxed and started sobbing in earnest. She just sat silently and let him work through it. She remembered vividly how important Tsuyu had been to her after she had just lost her parents. Having someone like Tsuyu who was like a sister to her, had helped her immensely. She couldn't do that for Izuku, but at the very least she could make sure he knew he wasn't alone. The memories that came to her made her start to tear up as well, and before long she had started crying as well.
The way Izuku eventually started to cling to her though, as if desperate for reassurance she was real; she got a bad feeling at that. She glanced at the grave again, with Izuku's mother's name engraved on it but not the name of his father engraved next to his mother's in red (to signify he had not yet passed). If the name of the husband wasn't engraved next to that of the wife it usually meant that either it was a choice not to, or the father wasn't exactly a part of the picture in some way. Assuming the latter, it put his desperate clinging to her into a new perspective. If the father wasn't around, then it meant Izuku, like herself, had been forced to bury his mother alone and then try to continue on alone. The similarities were striking and she felt closer to Izuku now than ever before. Granted, she couldn't imagine what not having a father growing up was like, or if the father left the family during his teens, but it must have been difficult either way. She wondered if Izuku had anyone in his life, similar to what she had with Tsuyu. If not, it painted an even bleaker picture of what his life must have been like after the funeral. Unlike her though, he wasn't a hero and so he probably hadn't had the convenient outlet she had for venting her emotions. In her grief, Ochako had made a lot of rash and poor decisions. Rarely did a week go by where she didn't regret and hate her choices from back then, and it was going to take a long time to atone for those choices.
Eventually, though, Izuku calmed down and he pulled away from her. He sniffled a few times and blew his nose on another tissue and took a few deep breaths.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to break down like that. It's just... been hard lately. Thanks for staying, I feel a lot better." Izuku managed to say through his clear emotional exhaustion.
Ochako herself was a bit choked up too but managed to say in a steady voice, "I know what it's like to lose those you love, and I know how important it is to have a shoulder a cry on."
After that, they just sat and made small talk for a while. He was surprisingly easy to talk to. He was an avid fan of heroes and quirks and had been since he was a child. She also learned that his father was indeed absent and had been since childhood as she had guessed. Apparently, though, his "father" continued to have money regularly deposited into the account his mother had used to pay for everything. He didn't know anything about him either. That was disturbing to Ochako, if it had been a divorce, then unlike in foreign countries, there would be no alimony. This suggested either the father was in incommunicado for some reason (and presumedly had been for some time) or even more disturbingly, he was involved in affairs best not associated with his family. Either way, it was both mysterious and concerning. They continued to talk about more mundane topics for a while until she checked her watch, it had been another 30 minutes. She really had to get going.
"I'd like to stay and chat more but I have to go to All Might park to meet a few friends. So... I guess this is goodbye." She stood up and Izuku did the same, then she reached over and gave him a quick hug one last time. "It was nice meeting you Izuku. Maybe we'll meet each other again someday, hopefully when I'm not in uniform though. She said with a little laugh at the end.
"Yeah, thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it, and sorry again for breaking down like that." Said Izuku scratching the back of his head and turning a bit red.
She could feel her own face start to flush a little bit at the absolute adorableness that Izuku was displaying, but she managed to not let it show.
"I'm glad I could help, and it's best just to let it out every once in a while, rather than letting it just build up." She said.
Izuku merely nodded and looked away from her but he did glance back at her every now and then. Ochako smiled brightly and the sight made Izuku go even redder, this just made Ochako's face start to turn red as well.
"Well, cya later," Ochako said as she turned and started to track back toward the path.
"Yeah, see ya later." Said Izuku staring at her retreating figure like a deer caught in headlights.
Sometime later, Ochako was leaning against the old stone wall of the shrine by the entrance, breathing heavily and feeling herself go bright red. She had never done something so embarrassing and insane before in her entire life! Even if he was incredibly cute and handsome, that was no excuse to almost lose her head. If she hadn't left, she might have even considered giving him her number. She had never felt this way before, it bothered and aggravated her to no end. This was not how she imagined what was supposed to be a sad and somber day would go.
She sighed and massaged her temples; she needed to relax and get going to All Might park. The others would be waiting for her before too long and she didn't want to hold them up too much. She pushed off the wall and started back down the path again, with her thoughts always ending up drifting toward Izuku and her bizarre encounter with him.